Tongeren [key], Fr. Tongres, commune (1991 pop. 29,451), Limburg prov., E Belgium. It is the trade center of the productive Hesbaye farm region. As a center of Gaul, it was a major Roman stronghold, flourishing in the reign of Tiberius (a.d. 14–37). The town was destroyed (4th cent.) by the Salian Franks and again (881) by the Norsemen. Of note are the Church of Notre Dame (9th–15th cent.), with Romanesque cloisters, as well as the town's Roman walls and its many houses dating from the 16th and 17th cent.
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